 I cannot discover why there should not be exhibited the most perfect idea of virtue ; of virtue not angelical, nor above probability, for what we cannot credit we shall never imitate, but the highest and purest that humanity can reach, which, exercised...  The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. - Page 25by Samuel Johnson - 1806Full view - About this book
 | 1856 - 668 pages
...behalf of fiction. Dr. Johnson observes, in a number of the " Rambler" : In narratives where historical veracity has no place, I cannot discover why there...we shall never imitate. But the highest and purest which humanity can reach, which, exercised in such trials as the various revolutions of things shall... | |
 | Samuel Johnson - 1968 - 400 pages
...them with so much art, that no common mind is able to disunite them. In narratives, where historical veracity has no place. I cannot discover why there...reach, which, exercised in such trials as the various 7. Swift-Pope Miscellanies (1727), 11.354. revolutions of things shall bring upon it, may, by conquering... | |
 | 1979 - 188 pages
...characters in Rasselas what Johnson is to the readers of Rasselas: namely, a man whose virtue has been "exercised in such trials as the various revolutions of things shall bring upon it," and who, "by conquering some calamities, and enduring others, [will] teach us what we may hope, and... | |
 | W. W. Robson, William Wallace Robson - 1984 - 288 pages
...use the opportunity of fiction to display ideal types of human life. 'In narratives where historical veracity has no place, I cannot discover why there...but the highest and purest that humanity can reach.' 'Vice', he says, 'for vice is necessary to be shown, should always disgust.' Finally, 'it is to 66... | |
 | George Alexander Kennedy, Marshall Brown - 1989 - 532 pages
...its true state, diversified only by accidents that daily happen in the world'; instead he recommends 'the most perfect idea of virtue; of virtue not angelical, nor above probability'. Silencing the name of his nemesis, Johnson clearly would like to stem a tide; indeed, his only extended... | |
 | Joseph F. Bartolomeo - 1994 - 228 pages
...where the double negative hardly indicates a ringing endorsement: "In narratives, where historical veracity has no place, I cannot discover why there...not be exhibited the most perfect idea of virtue." 139 And however confident Johnson may sound elsewhere in the essay, his remarks on readers of fiction... | |
 | Aileen Douglas - 1995 - 244 pages
...defines Fathom by Johnsonian prescripts. In "Rambler 4" Johnson argues: "In narratives where historical veracity has no place, I cannot discover why there...but the highest and purest that humanity can reach . . . Vice, for vice is necessary to be shewn, should always disgust."16 Smollett's 16. The Rambler,... | |
 | Lionel Kelly - 1995 - 399 pages
...them with so much art, that no common mind is able to disunite them. In narratives where historical veracity has no place, I cannot discover why there...idea of virtue; of virtue not angelical, nor above IO probability, for what we cannot credit, we shall never imitate, but the highest and purest that... | |
 | Andrew Lynch - 1997 - 198 pages
...stories, publicly stressed their obligation to provide a moral example: In narratives, where historical veracity has no place, I cannot discover why there...but the highest and purest that humanity can reach. 31 By these standards, Malory must fail, since for most of his knights, excluding Galahad and Perceval,... | |
 | Lawrence Lipking - 2009 - 396 pages
...type of narrative, a type perhaps embodied by Clarissa, he conceives "a perfect idea of virtue . . . the highest and purest that humanity can reach, which,...things shall bring upon it, may, by conquering some 175 calamities, and enduring others, teach us what we may hope, and what we may perform." The plot... | |
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